Ecological Landscaping Design: Our Process
We pride ourselves on our landscaping design process. This proven framework balances your needs and vision for your outdoor living space with timelines, budgets, and the unique characteristics of your site.
Many people want to rush through the design process because they’re eager to see the final installation. This is understandable—we all love a good reveal! But slowing down and thoughtfully considering every aspect of the design will save you headaches, money, and maintenance for years to come.
Sound design makes the difference between a garden that looks good for a season or two before falling into disarray—and a cohesive landscape that provides you with long-term beauty, vitality, and functionality.
Our team of experienced designers uses a process that produces clear objectives and highlights exciting possibilities, from new foundation plantings to an outdoor relaxation or meditation area, edible food gardens, nature playscapes, hardscaping, and more.
Here’s an overview of the process:
Connect → Consult → Design → Install → Manage
We detail each of these steps below. When you’re ready to start your design process, simply get in touch.
“[The designer] really, and I mean REALLY, listened to what we wanted and valued for the future of this land. Her knowledge about native and edible trees, shrubs and plants leaves us speechless and her enthusiasm is so contagious that we find ourselves quoting her to all of our family and friends.”
“Our Land Organics is excellent! They are very professional, knowledgeable and easy to work with. Their work and design was beautiful and exactly what we asked for and more.”
Step One: Connect
To kick things off, you schedule a time to connect over the phone. During this conversation, we will seek to understand your objectives and determine whether we can meet your needs.
If it seems like a good fit, we’ll send you a detailed questionnaire about your site and goals. Once you’ve completed the questionnaire, our Lead Designer will reach out to review your responses, determine budget and goals, and schedule an on-site consultation.
Step Two: Consult
Initial on-site meeting
The Consultation can be the first step in a comprehensive design and installation process or a standalone service. This is a great place to start if you are unsure about how to realize the full potential of your yard.
We will meet with you on-site to walk the land, further explore your goals, and offer informed recommendations based on your site’s unique challenges and opportunities. Common goals at this stage include aesthetics, maintenance, native plant gardens, edible gardening, attracting pollinators and beneficial wildlife, and stormwater management.
The fee for an initial Consultation is $125 for yards under 1 acre and $250 for larger spaces. This fee is nonrefundable, but it will be credited toward your design fees should you move forward with our design services.
After the first on-site meeting, we will create a Design Agreement proposal detailing the project’s goals, deliverables, design scope, and cost.
Detailed site analysis
Once you’ve signed the Design Agreement and paid the deposit, we will revisit the site to take measurements for a site map and conduct a detailed site analysis that considers the human and ecological systems affecting your yard—sun, soil, water, slope, human activities, and so on.
Note: Depending on the level of detail needed for the project, a yard survey may be required to begin this phase.
Step Three: Design
First Draft
Back in the office, we’ll create a site map and a first draft of the design. We will then schedule a video meeting to review the design ideas with you in detail.
The goal of this meeting is to explore design themes, layout, and planting plans and gather feedback. Following this conversation, we will send digital copies of the design and associated photos. We will also invoice for 75% of your remaining design balance at this point.
Editing Phase
You will have a chance to share any edits or changes that you’d like to make to the design. We will incorporate those changes into the draft design and share a revised plan.
Final Design
We will share the final design with you, including a complete plants and materials list, photo examples, and maintenance needs.
If you would like to make any last tweaks, we allow for one final round of minor edits at this time. Once we’ve agreed on the final design, we’ll share a printed version with you. We will invoice for the remaining design balance at this time.
Step Four: Install
Install Estimate
After completing the design process, we will create a detailed installation estimate based on your priorities and budget. Once we receive the signed installation contract and the installation deposit, we will reserve an install date. If you move forward with us for installation work, we will credit your design fee towards the installation.
Installation: From Paper to Reality
This is the stage when ideas come to life and the outdoor living space you’ve fantasized about takes shape. We are primarily a design/build company, and craftsmanship is our passion. Our team ensures that each project is built as designed, with careful attention to detail.
Step Five: Maintain
Every landscape requires some level of maintenance. Our organic yard maintenance packages help take the guesswork out of land stewardship and offer the support you need so you can spend your free time enjoying your landscape.